The government has decided to increase the house rent of non-government teachers and employees of secondary schools and madrassahs and colleges.
The teachers will, according to the decision, get Tk 500 a month in house rent from January instead of the existing Tk 100. An official order will be made this week.
Non-government teachers and employees have been receiving Tk 100 in house rent a month from the state exchequer since 1984 when the government introduced it.
A few teachers and employees of financially solvent non-government institutions, however, get a handsome amount in house rent from funds of institutions.
The existing amount of house rent for a newly appointed teacher in government high schools is nearly Tk 4,000 a month.
Finance ministry officials told New Age on Thursday that necessary fund had been released and the education ministry would now issue an official order increasing the amount of house rent to Tk 500 a month effective from January.
A finance ministry joint secretary said, ‘The government will need to spend about Tk 226 crore a year to increase the house rent amount for all of the 4.7
lakh teachers and employees employed in 27,647 institutions.’
SM Golam Faruk, additional secretary (administration and finance) to the education ministry, said, ‘We have got only Tk 112 crore from the finance ministry for the job for the period of January–June. The ministry will issue an official order this week and teachers and employees will start getting the increased rate.’
‘The minister is likely to announce the decision formally,’ he added.
Mazharul Hannan, president of the non-government college principals’ council, said, ‘We welcome the government decision on increasing the house rent. It would be, however, better if the amount was the same as government teachers and employees get.’
He said that the teachers had been rallying for the increase for two decades.
The director general of the directorate of secondary and higher education, Fahima Khatun, said, ‘Jobs of non-government teachers are not transferable. Most of them are employed in institutions close to their houses. On the other hand, jobs of government teachers are transferable which is why their house rent is higher.’